Posted 1:33 am Sunday, September 06, 2009
Open For Business: Milam Looks To Get Kettle Popping In Tyler
By BRIAN PEARSON
Business Editor
Ben Milam owned a Kettle restaurant for almost 10 years before it fell victim to a U.S. 59 widening project.
Business Editor
Ben Milam owned a Kettle restaurant for almost 10 years before it fell victim to a U.S. 59 widening project.
"I got wiped out," Milam said.
But that didn't mark the end of Milam's involvement in Kettle, which bills itself as "America's Kitchen."
But that didn't mark the end of Milam's involvement in Kettle, which bills itself as "America's Kitchen."
After four years of traversing the country as part of his company's expansion plans, Milam has found himself manager of a recently opened Kettle in Tyler.
The Kettle opened Aug. 12 at 1603 WSW Loop 323 in front of the La Quinta Inn.
Milam said the opening for Kettle, which has had its ups and downs over the years, underscores the company's desire to expand.
"Kettle used to be a good-sized company," he said. "The new owners want to open some more restaurants. We like this location here."
Now based in Rockwall, Kettle Restaurants, Inc. was launched in 1968 in Nacogdoches, according to the company's Web site.
Today, Kettle has 21 restaurants spread between Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
Kettle started franchising in 1973, although a Kettle official said only company-owned eateries are being opened at this time.
Half the restaurants are corporately owned, while franchise owners have the other half.
Milam, 63, started working for Kettle in 1991. He launched a franchise in Lufkin in 1997 and ran it for nine years.
Before that, he owned and operated restaurants for years, including "a couple of mom-and-pop restaurants" and a Dairy Queen.
After traveling nationwide for the company for four years, Milam decided to stick with one restaurant and got the job to manage the new Tyler eatery.
"Kettle has changed a lot," he said. "It just gets in your blood."
The building for the Kettle sat empty for two years, he said. Over the years, it has been a Dwayne's restaurant, Denny's and Hot Biscuit, he said.
Mark Shackelford, company president, said that at one time there were 300 Kettles, including one in Tyler. It closed down sometime before 1996, when the company was in a free-fall and under suffocating debt, he said. Shackelford said he was brought in while Kettle was going through a leverage buyout in 1996.
"I'm a turnaround specialist," he said. "I went in to turn the company around and wound up taking over the company."
Shackelford said the company has been on the rise since then, upgrading the Kettle image through restaurants that are bright and airy.
Shackelford's wife and friends stepped in to come up with the design for the Tyler eatery.
"We're just trying to update it a bit and make it fresher," he said. "We're wanting to get more families in. We try to have food on the menu that people like."
Know of an interesting new business? Contact Business Editor Brian Pearson at bpearson@tylerpaper.com or 903-596-6280.
